{"id":3176,"date":"2010-02-07T20:50:55","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T00:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/?p=3176"},"modified":"2010-02-07T22:44:23","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T02:44:23","slug":"person-or-not-a-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2010\/02\/person-or-not-a-person\/","title":{"rendered":"Person or Not a Person?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>An American Category Sketch of Personhood vs. Non-Personhood<\/strong> &#8211; not exhaustive, but representative.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>So much is under debate.<\/li>\n<li>So much is culturally modulated.<\/li>\n<li>So much has a history of discussion rather than a solid truth claim.<\/li>\n<li>So much seems a little strange.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Warning<\/strong>: Your answers may differ.<br \/>\nThis is meant to be thought-provoking; sorry for all the things I&#8217;m leaving out. <\/p>\n<p>Comments are welcome, but <em>only if you&#8217;re civil<\/em>. All comments are moderated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For each of the following, <em>is this a person<\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Non-living:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rock &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Table &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Book &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Beings:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Flower &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Tree &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Monkeygrass &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Frog &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Beetle &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Ant &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Tilapia &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Worm &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Dog &#8211; NO! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Cat &#8211; NO! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Cow &#8211; NO! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Scale\/Boundary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Electrons &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Nuclei &#8211; NO! <\/li>\n<li>Fungi &#8211; NO!  (LIFE, MAYBE GROUP INTELLIGENCE OF A KIND, NOT PERSON)<\/li>\n<li>Bacteria &#8211; NO! (LIFE, MAYBE GROUP INTELLIGENCE OF A KIND, NOT PERSON)<\/li>\n<li>Virus &#8211; NO &#8211; um&#8230; probably not! (DEAD\/ALIVE, IMMORTAL? SOME UNKNOWN)<\/li>\n<li>Prions &#8211; NO! (DEAD\/ALIVE, IMMORTAL? MUCH UNKNOWN) <\/li>\n<li>Mitochondria &#8211; NO! (MAY HAVE DEVELOPED HUMANS, HISTORY OF DISCUSSION)<\/li>\n<li>Planet &#8211; NO! (ECO-REACTIONS, SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Star &#8211; NO! (HISTORICAL SMALL DISAGREEMENTS)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sex\/Gender:<\/strong> <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Female &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Male &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Hermaphrodite &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Transvestite &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Transgender &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Heterosexual &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Homosexual &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Bisexual &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Married &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Single &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Complicated &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Class\/Money\/Economy:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Poor &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Rich &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Middle-class &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Blue-collar &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>White-collar &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Upper-class &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Migrant &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Inner-city &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Rural &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Suburban &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Socialist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Communist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Crony Capitalist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Regulated Capitalist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT) (etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Education:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Highly educated &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Highly trained &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>Untrained &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>College &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>No College &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>Under-educated &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>Literate &#8211; YES! <\/li>\n<li>Sub-literate &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Intentionally ignorant &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT) (etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Political Values: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Democrat &#8211; YES! (CONFUSION AND DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Libertarian &#8211; YES! (CONFUSION AND DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Republican &#8211; YES! (CONFUSION AND DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Independent &#8211; YES! (CONFUSION AND DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Green &#8211; YES! (CONFUSION AND DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Reconstructionist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Imperialist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Fascist &#8211; YES! (CONFUSION AND DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Nazi &#8211; YES! (HEATED DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Uninterested &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Fanatical &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT) (etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Nationality \/ Ethnicity \/ Race:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>American &#8211; YES! (MINOR DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Non-American &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Registered US Immigrant &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Non-registered US Immigrant &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>American Terrorist &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Non-American Terrorist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Same Ethnic\/Racial Composition as Yourself &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>Different Ethic\/Racial Composition from Yourself &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>German &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>French &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Kenyan &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>British &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Chinese &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Iraqi &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Afghani &#8211; YES! (SOME DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Iranian &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Religion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Christian &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Muslim &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Jehovah&#8217;s Witness &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Wiccan &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT) <\/li>\n<li>Buddhist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Fanatical &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Orthodox &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Evangelical &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Reformed &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Unitarian &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Atheist &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT) <\/li>\n<li>Eclectic &#8211; YES! (DISAGREEMENT) (etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Corporate Groupings: (UNDER CONTESTATION!!!!!)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Homeland Security &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>CIA &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Dept. of Eduction- NO!<\/li>\n<li>NRA &#8211; NO! <\/li>\n<li>ACLU &#8211; NO! <\/li>\n<li>Catholic Church &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>US Marines &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Al-Qaeda &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Taliban &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>KKK &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Halliburton &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Chevron &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Microsoft &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Google &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>MacDonald&#8217;s- NO!<\/li>\n<li>Citibank &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Walmart &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Stage \/ Distinctions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Egg &#8211; NO!<\/li>\n<li>Sperm- NO! <\/li>\n<li>Fertilized egg &#8211; NO! (DISAGREEMENT &#8211; UNDER CONTESTATION!)*<\/li>\n<li>Zygote &#8211; NO! (DISAGREEMENT- UNDER CONTESTATION!)<\/li>\n<li>Fetus w\/Beating Heart &#8211; ALIVE, BUT NOT PERSON! (DISAGREEMENT- UNDER CONTESTATION!)<\/li>\n<li>Fetus w\/Brain Waves &#8211; MAYBE! (DISAGREEMENT &#8211; UNDER CONTESTATION!)<\/li>\n<li>Late-term Pregnancy &#8211; MAYBE! (HEATED DISAGREEMENT- UNDER CONTESTATION!)<\/li>\n<li>Baby &#8211; COULD BE! (SOME DISAGREEMENT, HISTORICALLY NOT, BUT PROBABLY CONSIDERED ONE NOW)<\/li>\n<li>Toddler &#8211; PROBABLY! (DISAGREEMENT &#8211; HISTORICALLY NOT, BUT PROBABLY CONSIDERED ONE NOW)<\/li>\n<li>Child &#8211; PROBABLY! (DISAGREEMENT- HISTORICALLY NOT, BUT PROBABLY CONSIDERED ONE NOW)<\/li>\n<li>Teenager &#8211; PROBABLY! (DISAGREEMENT &#8211; PAIN IN THE BUTT, AND SOME CONFUSION ABOUT RITE DE PASSAGE)<\/li>\n<li>Adult &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>Middle-Aged &#8211; YES!<\/li>\n<li>Elderly &#8211; YES!  (DISAGREEMENT &#8211; HISTORICALLY SO, MAYBE STILL IS)<\/li>\n<li>Corpse &#8211; PROBABLY NOT (SOME RELIGIOUS DISAGREEMENT)<\/li>\n<li>Australopithecus &#8211; NO! (EXTINCT HOMINID! SOME DISCUSSION)<\/li>\n<li>Neanderthals &#8211; NO! (EXTINCT HOMINID! SOME DISCUSSION)<\/li>\n<li>Early Modern Human (EMH)\/Anatomically Modern Human&#8217; (AMH) (also referred to as Cro-Magnon) &#8211; UNKNOWN (DISCUSSION and DISAGREEMENT)\n<li>Homo Sapien Sapien &#8211; YES! (MINOR DISCUSSION, MOSTLY BY CURMUDGEONS)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>* Fertilized chicken egg does not equal chicken either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An American Category Sketch of Personhood vs. Non-Personhood &#8211; not exhaustive, but representative. So much is under debate. So much is culturally modulated. So much has a history of discussion rather than a solid truth claim. So much seems a little strange. Warning: Your answers may differ. This is meant to be thought-provoking; sorry for all the things I&#8217;m leaving out. Comments are welcome, but only if you&#8217;re civil. All comments are moderated. For each of the following, is this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2010\/02\/person-or-not-a-person\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,5,7,10,2,3,4938],"tags":[1099,5648,5647,1215,5590,5649,5646,5616,189],"class_list":["post-3176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-armchair-activism","category-culture","category-blog-toys","category-human-rights","category-jehovahs-witnesses","category-politics","category-semantic","tag-al-qaeda","tag-catholic-church","tag-citibank","tag-corporations","tag-ku-klux-klan","tag-personhood","tag-prions","tag-social-issues","tag-taliban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3182,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176\/revisions\/3182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}